Tassie Devils

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FEW PLACES GET THE CAPTAIN’S JUICES FLOWING LIKE THE EAST COAST OF TASMANIA. IT’S RAW, RUGGED AND BUSTLING WITH BIG BLUEFIN — USUALLY.

Words and images by The Captain

East Coast, Tasmania

RAMP RAIDER: The ramp at Eaglehawk Neck looks quiet here, but it can get crazy when the barrels are biting.

As loyal Captain readers have pointed out, we’re not always the most reliable sailor on the seas. Let us explain. In the back of every issue, we publish a preview of what’s in the next issue. Sometimes, we actually deliver on those promises. Not always. These broken pledges don’t just end with our readers. We often make big promises to boating manufacturers.

On one such occasion we promised a 100kg (220lb) bluefin tuna would be caught from a Stabicraft (hell, they were

catching them in stormwater drains at the time). Alas, we fished for an entire week, lost two jumbos and went near crazy in the pursuit of glory before waving the white flag

in defeat and publishing a story on the fishing grief cycle. Can’t say we didn’t try.

So it comes as a surprise when the brains trust at

Stabicraft asks us to head down to Tasmania and catch a

bluefin (or swordfish) out of a Stabicraft.

“Er, you do remember what happened last time, right?”

The Captain enquires.

“It’s alright fellas, this time I’m going to send over some

fishing gurus from NZ. They’ll get the job done,” the Stabi

boss responds. After a quick back and forth we agree to the plan, albeit with deep-fried and battered egos.

THE BOAT

The dream team arrives fresh from Auckland airport keen to “show us Aussies how to catch a fish”. All we need now

is a seaworthy Stabi. Enter Hadley Deegan. No stranger

to stormy southern waters, Hadley runs Deegan Marine, in Ulverstone on the Tasmanian north-west coast. The

dealership was pioneered by Hadley’s old man, Lindsay, more than 40 years ago, and it’s still going strong. Hadley suggests a Stabicraft 2100 Supercab will be perfect, explaining it has “Big boat performance and safety in a package that is easy

BEERS AND BLUEFIN: Jed (left), Hadley (middle) and Josh (right) take a break from bluefin busting to crush a few coldies.

to tow and manage”.

“We’ll have plenty of protection from the hardtop and

cabin without losing visibility,” he continues. “She also has a generous cockpit, perfect for carrying around all your camera gear and those Kiwi lads.”

That was all we had to hear and after a couple of weeks

planning logistics, here we are bouncing out of St Helens aboard a factory-fresh, metallic blue 2100 with a Honda

200HP V6 purring out the back. The Kiwi lads, Josh Holmes and Jed Radaly are also on board, rugged up in the cockpit preparing the rods and rigging baits out the back. It’s a

12nm run to the shelf, but 20nm out to the swordfishing

grounds. This gives us a good chance to chat to Hadley about his history with Stabicraft boats.

He first experienced a custom-built rigid buoyancy boat

almost 20 years ago and was blown away by the performance and safety, even in typical Tasmanian offshore conditions.

“That led me to Stabicraft’s production range a few years

later and I haven’t looked back. Back in the day, it was more about the Stabi’s personality than its looks. But these days

they’ve evolved into quite the sexy boat with unique styling, lines and funky colours, while holding onto their original DNA,” Hadley says.

THE DROP

When we finally arrive at the mark, Hadley gets busy adjusting the Garmin display. The Stabi is fitted with a GPSMap 952xs and a GSD 26 sonar module that

turbocharges the performance of the 1kW dual-channel

CHIRP transducer. We spend the day prospecting, but end

up heading home, having got just one hit from an unknown denizen of the deep.

The weather is predicted to deteriorate over the next few

days, so we cut our losses in St Helens and head to trusty Eaglehawk Neck in search of barrel-esque bluefin. The

handy thing about Eaglehawk is that you don’t need to go far to catch fish. The Captain can attest to this not being

bulldust, having caught an 85kg (187lb) bluefin 10 minutes from the ramp several years earlier.

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

We slide the 2100 onto the Easytow trailer and begin the 3.5- hour journey south. The drive from St Helens to Eaglehawk Neck along the east coast is nothing short of spectacular,

although Jed and Josh have never seen so much roadkill in their lives. Welcome to Australia, guys.

We check into the Lufra Hotel and feel as if we’ve gone

MAN FOR THE JOB: Hadley was cool, calm and collected at the helm even in some seriously vicious seas. Must be all that racing experience.

ADVENTURES AHOY: Amazing scenery aside, Eaglehawk Neck is an amazing place to fish because you can start trolling for 100kg+ bluefin only five minutes from the boat ramp.

“HE FIRST EXPERIENCED A CUSTOM-BUILT RIGID BUOYANCY BOAT ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO.”

HADLEY’S TIPS FOR TASSIE FIRST-TIMERS

WHY BOAT IN TASSIE? We are surrounded by water. Our waterways, coastal and inland, are what make Tasmania such a beautiful place to live. So if you’re not boating and enjoying our waters, you’re only getting part of the story.

BEST THINGS TO DO ON THE WATER? Obviously, fishing is a favourite pastime for many Tasmanians and our waters offer great diversity with some of the best table fish going. They also have spectacular underwater scenery and diving locations. Families can enjoy a mix of fishing, a day out at great destinations and also enjoy water sports on our sheltered waters and lakes.

FIVE FAVOURITE BOATING DESTINATIONS? There’s so many to choose, it’s hard to pick a top five. I’d go for Bicheno, the Tasman Peninsula and Schouten Island on the east coast, Pedra Branca off the south coast, and Strahan and Macquarie Harbour in the west.

“AS WE MAKE OUR WAY TOWARDS THE ACTION, WE GET THE CALL FROM MARK THAT HE’S HOOKED UP.”

back in time, surrounded by plush pile carpet and veneer

finishes. But there’s cold beer and chicken parmigiana, so we’re not complaining.

The next morning, we’re up at the crack of dawn heading

straight to Hippolyte Rock, aka the “Hippo”, a granite spike that shoots 65m (213ft) straight up out of the ocean like The Thing’s nipple. The only difference is, this nipple smells like

a mixture of bird shit and seal shit. Aroma aside, it’s a damn beautiful spot to fish and notorious for big bluefin.

“They’re either on like crazy at the Hippo or not at all,”

Hadley reckons. Unfortunately for us it’s “not at all” and

we spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the coastline

before finding a sweet spot to anchor and cook up a feed in Fortescue Bay. After we stuff our faces with freshly cooked

hotdogs, courtesy of an onboard JetBoil, we head back to the Lufra to work on our game plan for the next day.

BLUEFIN OR BROKE

It’s our last day in Tassie and we still haven’t turned a reel. Looks like we were going to disappoint Stabicraft once

again. At least this time we could pin it on the “Kiwi fish assassins”. The weather has turned to complete custard,

leaving us with only one spot to fish — Tasman Island. The quickest way to get there is to launch at Port Arthur and chug out around the corner.

We troll for the morning until the second boat in our

convoy (Mark Hately’s 2400) finds a patch of birds and

calls us over. The bad news is that the birds are feeding away from the protection of Tasman Island, in absolute

slop. Hadley, hanging on to the wheel with white knuckles, tells the story best.

“We can see a few birds working out wide of Tasman and

Mark has obviously seen this as well,” he recalls. “As we

make our way towards the action, we get the call from Mark that he’s hooked up. But we can’t see him until we get

really close. Then, rising to the top of a big swell heading

into the sea, as the spray clears, we spot him in the trough behind us, surfing past seals, birds and fish that are all in a surface-feeding frenzy. I time our turn and try to judge where the fish are going to be. But all you can see is the

back of the swell in front of us. The next big wave passes

underneath and as we rise I can see the action what looks

like four stories below. I give Jed the yell to get ready as we shoot past the edge of the frenzy and we’re on. Jed

takes the rod and goes into battle, doing a great job to stay on his feet, barefoot on the tread plate. Those Kiwis are

pretty hard-core! I try to position the boat and negotiate

the sea while he’s busy getting smashed by white water and spray. There’s no time to go easy on this fish because we’re surrounded by seals. Jed cranks up the drag and surfs the fish to the boat in record time for The Captain’s crew to make an awesome gaff shot.”

Phew! Mission accomplished. Although it wasn’t the

100kg (220lb) barrel we promised Stabicraft, there’s

nothing a wide-angle camera lens can’t fix. Just don’t tell the Stabi crew.

DEEGAN DELIGHT: Tough conditions, tough men and a bloody tough fighting fish. Mission accomplished.

BOAT SPECS STABICRAFT 2100 SUPERCAB Length: 6.4m (20.9ft)

Beam: 2.3m (7.5ft) Deadrise: 20 degrees Passengers: 7 Tow weight (approx): 1900kg (4188lb) Fuel capacity: 200L (52.8gal) Standard HP: 130HP Maximum HP: 225HP ENGINE SPECS Model: Honda BF200 Type: SOHC 24-valve V6 Displacement: 3.58L (0.94gal) Weight: 285kg (628.3lb)

SUPPLIED BY:

Deegan Marine 102 Eastland Drive, Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia. +61 3 6425 2238. www.deeganmarine.com.au MORE INFORMATION: Stabicraft Marine 345 Bluff Highway, Invercargill, Southland, New Zealand. +64 3 211 1828. www.stabicraft.com